Longtime Kansas State assistant Del Miller announces his retirement

Del Miller, a longtime assistant football coach at Kansas State, is retiring.

Miller announced his retirement Monday in a news release.

The announcement concludes a 45-year coaching career that featured 20 seasons with the Wildcats. Miller worked under head coach Bill Snyder in various offensive roles, helping the Wildcats in different ways through the years. Initially, he came to K-State with Snyder in 1989 as the team’s offensive coordinator. Most recently, he held the title of co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.

Former K-State quarterback Collin Klein is expected to replace him, two sources with knowledge of the situation told the Eagle. Klein is currently the quarterbacks coach at Northern Iowa, a traditional FCS power. K-State is expected to announce the move later this week, the sources said.

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“I’m very appreciative of the opportunity I’ve had here at Kansas State,” Miller said in a statement released by K-State. “I’ve enjoyed my time with many players that I’ve coached through the years. They are the guys that make it worthwhile. I certainly want to express my thanks to Coach Snyder for the opportunity he presented me in 1989.”

Miller will remain on K-State’s staff as a quality control assistant until the conclusion of his current contract in May. His salary was $400,000.

He thinks he is leaving K-State’s offense in good hands.

“I think we’re at a point where we have a very stable situation in terms of quarterbacks coming up,” Miller said. “We have an experienced quarterback coming back, and the stable of quarterbacks is solid for quite some time. I think the next coach will have some people to work with. I thought this was a good time because most of our players are coming back, so that transition can work very smoothly.”

In 1995, Miller left Manhattan to become the head coach at Missouri State and guided the Bears to a 21-23 record over four seasons. Miller, 66, returned to K-State and worked under Snyder from 2001 until his initial retirement in 2005. He re-joined Snyder at the start of his second stint in 2009 and has worked with him ever since.

“I am very grateful to Del for staying with us as long as he has,” Snyder said in a statement. “He is a major contributor to the foundation of Kansas State Football as we know it today. Having been the very first assistant coach hired for us in 1988 and still with us today, speaks volumes. Del left the program for four years to serve as a head coach but came back to us shortly thereafter because this was where he wanted to be.”

Snyder said Miller made the decision to retire on his own.

“Unfortunately, it was initially reported inaccurately, suggesting that he was asked to leave. That was a totally false report,” Snyder said. “In fact, I was greatly surprised when he came in to tell me about his retirement plans.”

Miller coached some of the top quarterbacks in K-State history while he was in Manhattan, including Ell Roberson, Jake Waters, Chad May and Klein.